check with your advisor but I had an existing Scotia Scene Visa and was able to get the bonuses for both cards (passport and amex). I emailed my advisor before to double check because of this but I don't think they had to do anything special for me

Mine is up! I am a previous UBC student (accepted on May 11th) so already had a student #, etc. Maybe that's why it was faster than others? Or possibly it's just the time it takes to process ~300 new students

My understanding of UBC was that if you were paid for something, it must go in the employment section, and that it'd be a big issue if they found something in your NAQ that was paid. I would either ask for clarification, or add things into the NAQ at your own risk

I agree on both points
a) You still have plenty of time to study and get a great score - I finished content review about 3 weeks before (having taking my basic sciences 4+ years prior so it was all fairly "new") and managed to get a 516. If you think CARS is the key, spend some extra time each day doing CARS prep - I found reading something like Laphams quarterly every day before bed for 10 minutes even helped in processing dense material. That being said, be realistic about what score you think is actually possible for you. About halfway through (now-ish), do a practice exam in real exam settings, and see what your score is. Hopefully everything will increase in the next couple months, but it should give you a good idea as to where your at, and what's possible
b) That all being said, your MCAT is fine, not great, but not terrible. I would say given your (relatively) low average, having a higher score will help, but working on your interview and EC's might be just as productive (I got in with a 84 average and 516 mcat). If you don't have the mental energy to commit to studying for the MCAT while working full-time (which is totally understandable!), maybe just leave the mcat for the summer and be kind to your mental health

Maybe try looking for a sublet from another student who is going away for first term (on exchange or whatever) - you might have more luck with places on campus, although they tend to be more expensive than others. As well, as you don't need to give notice until 30 days before moving out, most places for September won't come up until late July/August. I also heard that there is a housing website that the med students have access to, mostly to find places to stay during clerkship, but it might be useful for the Sep-Dec space; I think we should get access to this during the summer?

I would say it's highly dependent on factors like: how much you have saved from work, contributions (if any) expected from your parents, how much you receive for student loans, and cost of living in your city. I expect to be able to sneak by without using the LOC for my first year, using a combo of work savings and student loan to pay for tuition/rent, but will likely need to start accessing it by summer. Many school and student loan websites have calculators to let you estimate how much your life will cost in the next year, including tuition and living expenses - use one of these and then compare to how much you have to get an idea of whether you'll likely need to use the LOC right away